Background
Born in Parliament Hill, North London, Aldridge is the daughter of graphic designer Alan Aldridge and Rita, a housewife.
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Saffron Aldridge
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Discovered at the age of sixteen, she rose to prominence working for Ralph Lauren in the 1990s. At sixteen years old, she left school to work on a hamburger stall in Camden Lock. One day, a customer, who turned out to be a model, gave Saffron the number of her agent at Take Two.
She gave them a call and got her first job a month later.
Aldridge began her career as a model at sixteen years old wearing jewellery for The Field Magazine. She worked in Paris for nine months, then tried her luck in New York where she was persuaded to appear as an extra in a Ralph Lauren campaign shot by Bruce Weber.
When the fashion designer saw the pictures he hired her on the spot. From then on Aldridge gained popularity as former face of Ralph Lauren.
She was photographed for numerous advertising campaigns such as Burberry, Gianfranco Ferré, Harrods, Louisiana Perla, Olay, Ralph Lauren, Selfridges, Laura Biagiotti and also appeared on the covers of Italian and Brazilian magazines.
After almost two decades of modelling, Aldridge has moved on to launch a charity for children. In 1998 she presented a fundraising project called Through the Eyes of a Child, with the proceeds going to the NSPCC. Aldridge persuaded Canon Incorporated. to donate 200 free cameras, that were handed out to children between the ages of 3 and 12. They could photograph anything they wanted but they were under instructions not to get help from grown-ups.
The top 200 shots went on display and were featured in a coffee-table book
Altogether, including the charity dinner and auction (supported by many celebrities such as Hugh Grant, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bryan Adams and Sting), the project raised £150,000. The following years the campaign was repeated worldwide.
